Volkwagen Enters Insurance Biz
In Europe, Volkswagen is a full service operation. You can buy your car at a Volkswagen (Audi, Seat etc.) dealer. You can finance it at the Volkswagen Bank. (They give you a credit card, and higher interest for your savings.) You can insure it with the Volkswagen Versicherungs Dienst VVD. Both are subsidiaries of Volkswagen Financial Services. The VVD is not a real insurance, they act as an agent for Europe’s insurance giant Allianz. Put that in the past tense. After 62 years with Allianz, Volkswagen does its first baby steps into the insurance business itself.
“The difference with the new company is it is a warranty for car products,” a VW Financial Services spokesman in Germany told just-auto. “Allianz in Munich is our partner and we took the business back into our own company – we want to put the business closer to the carmaker.” For all other insurance business, such as car insurance, Volkswagen will stick with Allianz. For now.
The warranty is the Volkswagen Lifetime Garantie. The same that inspired Opel to give the Lifetime warranty that got Opel in a bit of hot water. Too bad we didn’t trademark lifetime. I think we gtried and failed. Lifetime isn’t trademarkable.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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